Avia 57 floatplane from milton shupe and company, a new skin

[Bushi]

Hi everyone,

Yes.. this is an oldie, but a goodie!!!

When I first saw Milton's Avia 57 on floats.. it was a no brainer. I mean seriously... a 1930's obscure aircraft with decidedly ART DECO styling...IT HAS THREE ENGINES.... in a polished aluminium finish.. and perched on a set of MASIVE floats.. no brainer for me!!!


BUT.. as is the case when you are afflicted with the "can't leave well enough alone" disease.. I had to make it my own! It's a painter / modeler thing........

So, using Nigel Richards paint kit, I started.... a little at first.. get used to the texture layout.. having fun... but something.. something bugging me.... ah yes.. NOT a big fan of those huge fabric over metal ribs seemingly featureless wings. What to do..... THAT is the design of the airplane.. sigh.....

And then something happened.. I got sick.. I got VERY sick... the life threatening variety... but obviously, pulled through!

This was three years ago.. when I first began this project......

I needed something to keep me occupied whilst recovering and being FORCED to take it easy, and decided one evening to give the big Avia trimotor METAL wings!!!

Pretty easy really.. just completely redo the texture files and alpha channel for the wing bmp's... And so it began.......

Work out the substructure, add panel lines.. rivets.. highlights for rivets.. grime around rivets.. make the darn things LOOK lije they are covered in unpainted aluminium skin.

I was pleased... and then worked out a ficticious livery for my ficticious plane.. "BRITISH SOUTH AMERICAN AIRLINES" THERE that's THE TICKET... Fly around South America, landing in rivers and lakes, in an old noisy smelly trimotor..


It didn't take all that long to decorate her in a very 30's style livery, using a nice font I found online. I was happy... but wait.. not done!

okay.. long story short... after a few conversations with aeronautical mates, it was decided that Sikorsky and Avia got together to produce the metal winged airplane, and alluding to a short story penned by a young lady (school assignment) a 'back story' was in place, and well... a NEW airline formed... with a completely new locale...even if it was almost a carbon copy of my BSAA livery... and "PACIFIC EQUATORIAL AIRWAYS" was born. Aussie reg.. operating over the waters north of Australia, the airline / cargo operation started in 1946 by a couple of WW2 pilots using surplus airplanes they had purchased at auction.

I even named my first one Samantha after the young lady who inspired it! There was now a 'visual' to accompany her short story.

Fast forward... Showed another SOH member here the plane.. ended up 'renaming' her and sending him a copy. Well received!

So... I decided that Pacific Equatorial needed to be out there.. that this big Avia-Sikorsky three engine 'tramp steamer' with a decidedly "Raiders of the Lost Ark" adventurous feel and look to it deserved to be flown by more intrepid "fly by the seat of their pants' 'tomorrow is another day' pilots.

So have painted up one as "Audrey".. for no particular reason... reg VH-AUD.

So, bottom line... Airplane, airline, all 'alternate reality'... but so much fun to fly. If you don't have Miltons Avia 57 floatplane.. you should...

Milton has been great help, and Nigel Richards provided me with a magnificent paint kit to play with... even when I went above and beyond what he anticipated with repainting almost all of his texture files.

And finally a thank you to Hansi Naegele, who's new custom painted gyro resides in front of the pilot. Manfred Jahne has informed me that Hansi is no longer with us, but I'm cleared to include my rework of his excellent gauge.

Anyway.. a couple of screenshots... and will upload once I make sure she is good to go.

 

[Bushi]

a couple more screenshots...

 

[Blackbird686]

Awesome work Dave, the ol' gal cleans up really nice, and wears those polished aluminum wings and overall metal finish very well. Something about the venerable Avia 57 on floats, the word luxurious comes to mind. And that plane looks good on floats too. She's a real beauty!

BB686

 

[Willy]

Looking great there! I had a ton of fun redoing one for a South American trip we flew online in FSX. A lot of my extravagance went into the cockpit and cabin though, giving it a Cajun flair.

 

[Bushi]

Looking great there! I had a ton of fun redoing one for a South American trip we flew online in FSX. A lot of my extravagance went into the cockpit and cabin though, giving it a Cajun flair.

screenshot please??? I'll show you mine... we got fuel, Fosters, and Canada Dry!

 

[vonernsk]

On your metal

Bushi,

You really press my buttons with your metal finishes. What an attractive a/c you have skinned. It all makes commercial sense as well. Less friction=more miles and faster. Milton will be well pleased with this interpretation of his model.

Sad to see the lack of Gin in the hold, but somehow I will get through without.

Great work and all the best for your recovery. Remember - 'Eat less and move more'.

Tks again for hours of enjoyment.

Mal

 

[Willy]

No gin, but beer whisky and rum in mine. I was raised about 40 miles north of the Arkansas - Louisiana state line and have lived about 6 years altogether in New Orleans.

Now keep in mind that this is in FSX SE.

We were going to do an online floater trip in S. American and I wanted some kind of float plane about medium sized and the Avia just seemed to fit the bill. Me, being me and can't leave anything alone, decided at first that it needed some new engines and as I'd been mucking about with Fw 200 and Ju 52s, decided to go German on those with BMW Hornets. I used the O. Fischer Ju 52 gauges (for the most part) and modified his sounds to work on a float plane with a few other touches. I did include Nigel's exterior sounds though when I redid the sound.cfg file.

From there I went to the exterior using Nigel's paint kit and came up with "Barataria Aero Services" based out of Barataria (Jean Lafitte's old hangout and I used to go fishing there a lot). Found a decent pic of a BMW Hornet in black and used that. Did a basically my old Merc Air paint scheme, scuffed it all up a bit. Then decided the floats needed some attention. The Avia floats and the ones used on the Beech 18 amphib are mapped the same, so I sort of combined the textures for the Globetrotters/Airmen Beans and Avia in layers, enhanced the algae buildup and other features. And in keeping with the Jean Lafitte/Barataria idea, added the shark's mouths on the front of the float.

Went on to the VC (I quit messing with the 2d a while back) decided a wood panel would be nice so I did one in bois d arc wood and then did cypress floors and old barn cedar paneling.

While I was doing all this my lil blue buddy passed from old age, so the parrot pic got replaced with a blue jay. And I had to add my gun rack behind the pilot's seat as well. No telling what what kind of "social events" one might get into while visiting the natives you know. I also redid the seats into a gray leather with alligator inserts.

Continued next post.

 

[Willy]

Part II

From there I went into the cabin and the fun began. All kinds of good stuff in there.

Here's the link to the S. American floater trip. A lot more pics of the Avia in there and you can follow the evolution of the paint scheme as we went along.

http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/showthread.php/105376-Operation-Piranha-Dodger

 

[Bushi]

Part II

From there I went into the cabin and the fun began. All kinds of good stuff in there.

WOW.. quite different to my approach! THAT is a lot of wood!!

That to me is one of the big draws of flightsim.. that we get to be as creative as we want.. well.. to a point for most of us... those that are not gifted modelers.. but like to rework textures, and play with the cfg. files a bit!

I get my mind stuck on an airplane.. at a particular time.. and away we go! From this big tri-motor, to doing a CF-111.. to an old Canadair Sabre.. or an F-8 Crusader... hell.. I never know where I'm going next!
GREAT way to personalize and express yourself...

I'm just so very thankful there are people like Milton ...talented designers that keep feeding my obsession! LOL

Keeps me out of trouble.

cheers
David

 

[Bushi]

Bushi,

You really press my buttons with your metal finishes. What an attractive a/c you have skinned. It all makes commercial sense as well. Less friction=more miles and faster. Milton will be well pleased with this interpretation of his model.

Sad to see the lack of Gin in the hold, but somehow I will get through without.

Great work and all the best for your recovery. Remember - 'Eat less and move more'.

Tks again for hours of enjoyment.

Mal

Nigel Richards deserves 99% of the credit for the metal textures.. He did a great job in making the fuselage look like polished aluminium. I just played with the alpha channels to adjust reflectivity and shadow, and adjusted the tone and colour balance to get the bluish tinge (from a reflected sky)

oh and my little illness was several years ago now.. I'll never be completely over it, damage was done.. but it's all in the past. As I like to say... "I've survived worse!" and those that know me.. well... as bad as this was... will probably agree with that statement.
cheers
Dave

 

[Bushi]

skin has been uploaded

look for her in the FS2004 Civilian skins section.

Hope you like her!
Cheers
Dave

 

[Milton Shupe]

Well done Dave!

 

[Bushi]

Well done Dave!

Thank you Milton

and again.. thank you for bringing us such a cool airplane to fly!!!

cheers
Dave

 

[LouP]

Good for P3D v4. Just curious as it will be installed if it is. No worries.

LouP

 

[Willy]

Good for P3D v4. Just curious as it will be installed if it is. No worries.

LouP

Dunno about P3D, but it works great in FSX

 

[Willy]

WOW.. quite different to my approach! THAT is a lot of wood!!

That to me is one of the big draws of flightsim.. that we get to be as creative as we want.. well.. to a point for most of us... those that are not gifted modelers.. but like to rework textures, and play with the cfg. files a bit!

I get my mind stuck on an airplane.. at a particular time.. and away we go! From this big tri-motor, to doing a CF-111.. to an old Canadair Sabre.. or an F-8 Crusader... hell.. I never know where I'm going next!
GREAT way to personalize and express yourself...

I'm just so very thankful there are people like Milton ...talented designers that keep feeding my obsession! LOL

Keeps me out of trouble.

cheers
David

I keep saying I'm going to learn 3d modeling, but have too many distractions to be able start getting my head around it.

It's amazing what one can do with a paint program.

 

[Willy]

Just for the record, I tried my textures in the wheeled version with no issues after I added the tire and tread textures to the folder.

Edited to add screenshot.

 

[nigel richards]

Awesome additions to a Milton Classic, Dave and Willy.

 

[djs1]

A very welcome re-paint indeed. I must confess to being a little disappointed that, among Milton's many creations, the Avia range does not seem to have attracted the attention of the many skilled painters out there. Unless I am wrong (and would dearly love someone to show me I am), this is the only Avia re-paint I have come across.
I can well remember the anticipation of all on here when Milton's first Avia was due for release, and the subsequent ones, so why the apparent lack of interest in re-paints.